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GWF Sunday Brunch
GWF Sunday Brunch was a weekly professional wrestling television show. It originally ran every Sunday at mid-day, and then from the summer of 2008, it began running every Sunday night. Towards the end, it returned to the afternoon time slot at noon. It was created to showcase and establish newer or low card wrestlers of the GWF, and to give them significant screen time. Near the end of its run, it became a cult hit program and grew from a regional promotion to a nation-wide independent company. From the summer of 2008 on, it was seen as an equal to the flagship Friday Night Brawl. It was founded in December 2007 by Robert Garland. History Early stages and Interbrand championship The brand was originally created and established by Robert Garland. The brand was pitched as a weekly show/development camp hybrid, where young wrestlers would go to start their careers, get noticed and get a spot on the FNB roster. Garland served as the main booker to the show until fellow GWF wrestler Shane Xzavery volunteered to assist running the brand. From January to June 2008, Garland and Xzavery ran the show with success, and managed to establish many of their own homegrown stars such as Falcon McKenzie and Damian DeVil, who would both later go on to great fame on the flagship Friday Night Brawl. Popularity increase On June 6, 2008, Garland stepped down as the main booker of Brunch. This left Xzavery working alone behind the scenes for roughly a month, until the July 13, 2008 episode of Sunday Brunch, where The Reprobate won the Interbrand Championship. From this day forth, Rep had taken over the main booking duties that Robert Garland had left vacant. Xzavery had stayed on as an assistant booker for a few weeks, until Damian DeNiro (formerly Damian DeVil) returned to the show and took Xzavery's assistant booker place. At this point, Xzavery's involvement in the brand had become minimal, until around late July when he was eventually no longer involved in the brand's running. From July 2008 to the closing of GWF, The Reprobate and Damian DeNiro ran the brand, introducing more new wrestlers and even bringing in some of the past and present stars of FNB. The brand eventually climbed from being a simple low card development show to an equivalent of FNB. At one point, Brunch would even surpass Brawl in television ratings and pay-per-view buyrates. Dead End and additional championships Brunch finally ran it's first pay-per-view event, Dead End, on August 3, 2008 in Manhattan, New York. The name of the event was a play on the FNB pay-per-view of the same month, New Beginnings. The event featured Interbrand Champion The Reprobate defending against United States and World Tag Team Champion Damian DeNiro. The Reprobate successfully pinned the double champion, after several run ins and brawls from fellow Brunch wrestlers. The win established Brunch wrestlers as a major force in GWF. The event also featured FNB star Debolt Dragonsbane taking on his former stablemate and Brunch wrestler Michael Smart for the Interbrand Championship number one contendership. Smart successfully defeated his former boss, further establishing the Brunch roster over FNB. After Rep and DeNiro became the GWF World Tag Team Champions on an episode of FNB, they prominently featured the belts on Brunch, which gave Brunch even more credibility. When Baron Trotter won the GWF International-Xtreme Championship, he continued to appear on Brunch, further establishing Brunch as a success. With three major championships being featured on the program and the GWF World Heavyweight Champion Don Cicinni being absent on FNB with an injury, Brunch had surpassed FNB not only in ratings, but in championship division activity and popularity. Most of the major active stars in GWF began appearing on Brunch, and most of the injured or not as popular wrestlers would be featured on Brawl. The final number one contender, Michael Smart, would have gone on to receive his title shot at the second pay-per-view, Big Apple Street Fight '08, however the event had been canceled when GWF ceased operation. Legal problems and closing When GWF closed in August 2008, the brand was temporarily put on hold. It was announced initially that Brunch would break away as a standalone promotion, but GWF higher ups (most notably those in charge of FNB) refused to allow the promotion to be green lit. Rep and DeNiro insisted that the Big Apple Street Fight pay-per-view would go on as planned, however they received legal threats over putting on the event without compensating GWF for their "trademark". The threat upset Rep and DeNiro, due to GWF not even being a part of the day to day runnings of Brunch, let alone the concepts and ideas they had created. On August 22, 2008, the September pay-per-view, remaining house shows, and the Sunday Brunch TV show were all officially canceled. Reunion events In March 2009, the GWF reunion tour was announced, and a date was set for a Brunch anniversary show. On March 22, 2009, the Sunday Brunch Anniversary Show took place. It has been highly regarded as one of the greatest GWF pay-per-view events in history. It has been described as a "night of surprises" as many wrestlers from the history of GWF returned to culminate feuds that had been long unfinished. Returning stars included Mint E. Fresh as a ring announcer and Joey Sinclair. The XO Experience, who had never appeared on a Brunch event before, returned to exact revenge as the secret opponent of Damian DeNiro, who had put him out of action and broke up their World Tag Team Title reign together months before on FNB. Star-Man returned in the beginning of the show and wrestled The Superbeast. He then returned again at the end of the event and won the Interbrand Championship from Rep in one of the many impromptu matches of the night. Championships Championship runs GWF World Interbrand Championship (2007-2009) GWF International-Xtreme Championship (2008-2009) GWF World Tag Team Championship (2008-2009) Roster alumni Final roster *Baron Trotter *Christina Hernandez *Damian DeNiro *Douglas Ozzy *Falcon McKenzie *Josh the Jersey Boy *Michael Smart *Mint. E Fresh *The Power Kidd *Rain *The Reprobate *Star-Man *Stan Vishis *The Superbeast *T.J. Non-wrestlers *Matt Baily (TV and PPV play-by-play announcer) *The Dan (TV and PPV color commentator) *Adrian Karma (Commissioner) *The Sinister Minister (Manager) Stables and tag teams *'Da Drugiez' (Baron Trotter and Stan Vishis) *'The Movement' (Damian DeNiro, The XO Experience and Stan Vishis) *The Reprobate and Damian DeNiro *'Rep's Posse' (The Superbeast, Josh the Jersey Boy, Christina Hernandez) Alumni *Adam Leos *Arya *Chris Phenomenal *Cory Cox *Debolt Dragonsbane *Doctor Phate *Don Cicinni *Jack Cascade *Jake Hunter *Joey Watson *Johnathan Worthington *Jimmy Cage *JT Phoenix *Kerry Arya *The Lost Crow *Mikey Badass *Smoke *XFucker External links *Official GWF Sunday Brunch Website